NTL Driving me Mad

Frankieboy

Ok as you might have guessed im having problems with my NTL broadband. I've had these problems since the start which about 5-6months ago but I cant put up with it anymore. Well basically it can be going strong and the next thing it just goes, connection lost or whatever. The "READY" LED flashes meaning its not working. This is really annoying as some times it comes back a few minutes later and sometimes it comes back a few hours later. Anyone with NTL will they they give you this little procedure to turn of the power at the mains for 30sec's then put on modem for 30sec's bla bla bla. Well that never works, or very rarely should I say. Well I dont know how clear I made that sound but hopefully you'll understand, I was wondering if there was anyone else out there with the same problem. I can safely say that the connection has gone 40+ times. Then I ring them up and by the time I get through (20mins then cut off + 14 mins finally get someone) its back in working order and they tell me it has to be not working when you ring for us to do something!! Its complete trash had Eircom before and they may be a little dearer but never had the same problems. Anyways I was just wondering what my fellow boardie's think and if anyone has had the same problem??

Drapper

Frankieboy wrote:

Ok as you might have guessed im having problems with my NTL broadband. I've had these problems since the start which about 5-6months ago but I cant put up with it anymore. Well basically it can be going strong and the next thing it just goes, connection lost or whatever. The "READY" LED flashes meaning its not working. This is really annoying as some times it comes back a few minutes later and sometimes it comes back a few hours later. Anyone with NTL will they they give you this little procedure to turn of the power at the mains for 30sec's then put on modem for 30sec's bla bla bla. Well that never works, or very rarely should I say. Well I dont know how clear I made that sound but hopefully you'll understand, I was wondering if there was anyone else out there with the same problem. I can safely say that the connection has gone 40+ times. Then I ring them up and by the time I get through (20mins then cut off + 14 mins finally get someone) its back in working order and they tell me it has to be not working when you ring for us to do something!! Its complete trash had Eircom before and they may be a little dearer but never had the same problems. Anyways I was just wondering what my fellow boardie's think and if anyone has had the same problem??

Are you runnning bittorents by any chance? where are you located?

crosstownk

The exact same problem happened to me. Every time I rang the same procedures were thrown at me. I had technicians out on more than 10 occasions and nobody could fix it. It was such a disaster. I had NTL in a previous house but the problem started when I moved to my current house. At the time I had an Airport Extreme Base Station connected to the NTL modem and I used to check the log every day and then call NTL to let them know when the signal was down. They simply told me that I would have to ring when the problem was present - this was of no help as I only connect at home in the evening when their technical department was closed (1930h). All the time the digital TV was perfect. So after hundreds of calls and hours and hours on hold I just gave up and got Eircom BB and haven't had one problem since.

From my experience NTL couldn't care less about my problem and were happy to continue taking my direct debit each month despite my requesting credit for the hours, which amounted to days, that the signal was down (which my base station log recorded). Needless to say I didn't get too far with that angle. Then when I went to cancel I was told that I had 6 months of contract oustanding - I saw red at that stage and told them that I would cancel the direct debits and they could take me to court if they wanted to. I wrote a letter to them, registered, stating my position. A month later I recieved credit for the unused portion of my last payment.

I will never deal with NTL again. Poor customer service. But I do know people who have NTL for ages and never once experienced a problem.

Loose them now or might loose you sanity!!

bk

Any of you using zonealarm, there is a common problem with zonealarm that causes these types of problems.

crosstownk

Nope - wasn't using zonealarm. This was an intermittent fault that would happen without warning at any time of the day. At one stage NTL suggested that someone was 'tapping' into my line. Any time NTL checked my modem it appeared to be on line to them. Weird. This was the same modem I used at a previous address where it gave perfect service.

A question for the OP - do you by any chance live near me?

Frankieboy

Im in Galway city. It doesn't happen when any particular program is open, same as above it can go at any time, without warning.

Sparky

mmm, crosstownk, where in Terenure are you, I rang up for the ntl digital TV and BB and they told me BB is'nt available in Terenure for the next 3- 12 months.

christophicus

\Its been happening to me too,its really annouying.Its odd though ,its always back br 6.30 pm.

Frankieboy

Ya tends to follow a pattern alright!

christophicus

I havent contacted them yet,you say youve had no luck in anything usefull being doen once you have contacted them?

Frankieboy

No not so far, I think if you ring when its not working go through their little procedure they eventually put you through to technical staff then they'll (believe it or not) do the same thing and eventually say we'll send someone out. Someone in your house 2 weeks from now!

christophicus

i was speaking to somebody that this was happening to and he said that he filled out this form and then they did something to fix it and it has not bothered him since.

http://www.ntl.com/locales/ie/en/athome/contact.html

he said just put the time and dates in when it happened.

its worth a try, i havent done it yet but i think i will soon.

donal.hunt

i always email them these days as it saves a huge amount of my time and you can followup when they don't follow through. Can also be very useful if you ever want to get comreg in on the action.

Donal

crosstownk

Sparky-s wrote:

mmm, crosstownk, where in Terenure are you, I rang up for the ntl digital TV and BB and they told me BB is'nt available in Terenure for the next 3- 12 months.

I'm in Wainsfort, older part.

Sparky

crosstownk wrote:

I'm in Wainsfort, older part.

Ashfield park, near Kenilworth motors. The woman said it would be worth the wait as it will be 8mb.

turbot

My NTL support story is as follows:

I got broadband max installed in mid feb.

The modem kept dropping the connection, frustratingly often, leading to me having to reset it, and then my wireless router, every 20 minutes. I ended up surfing on my neighbours unsecured wifi...

So I called NTL, and must admit I have a good way of dealing with people in customer service, and I've been online one way or another for 12 years, so I tend to demonstrate I know what I'm talking about as a way of getting better service faster.

They concluded there may be an issue with the line.

A few days later engineers called out and determined the signal strength was unduly low. They changed a wire coming into the building a few days later. Et Voila, now it works great.

So perservere. Pick the smartest time to call. And e-mail them too. For me, their service was good!

christophicus

When exactly is the smartest time to call?

Frankieboy

Yes when is the best time to call? I checked my connection this morning at round 10.30 and and behold it was gone. And it stayed gone until about 20,mins ago. I rang them earlier and eventually getting throught they tell me ya there's something wrong with the line. So they're someone out tuesday. I wasn't very happy cause I could gone without internet for 5 days which is not good cause I need internet access. Anyways at least it came back this evening. I just hope to God it doesn't go again, and that they fix it next week.

christophicus

I suggest you try plugging your modeminto the main tv point in you house(i.e the living room connection) i have just done that and the ready light stayed on there,i tryed three other connections in my house and all three did not work.Please let me know if this works for you.